Industrial processes often require maintenance of an atmospheric analyte within a workspace above or below a given concentration range. Analytes of interest or concern are typically reactive analytes such as O2, CO or VOCs. One such example is the modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) of foods where the workspace in which the foods are packaged is flushed with an inert gas, such as nitrogen, to reduce the oxygen concentration within the resultant packaging and thereby increase the shelf life of the packaged product.
Analyte concentration within a workspace is typically measured by pumping atmospheric samples from the workspace to a remotely located on-line analyte reading analyzer. While generally effective, such systems are relatively expensive, prone to frequent failures, and have a short life-span. While repair and replacement of these systems is problematic, the greater business concern is the time and cost involved in preventing potentially defective product, produced while the analyte sensing system was not functioning, from reaching consumers. Of even greater concern is that defective product will reach consumers, resulting in a tarnishing of the business' reputation.
Accordingly, a need exists for an inexpensive yet reliable atmosphere analyte sensing system possessing an extended useful life.